Wish list: The authors compiled art from people who answered the question "what do you want to do before you die?"

Sponsored Links

Along the way, the quartet has traveled the nation in a purple bus, starring in their own reality show on MTV —The Buried Life is now taping its third season — and attracting the attention of legions of followers, all the time asking the question and crossing things off their own "bucket list" on the show.

Now the guys, all in their 20s — brothers Jonnie and Duncan Penn and their friends Dave Lingwood and Ben Nemtin — have culled 200 answers for their new book, the aptly titled What Do You Want to Do Before You Die? (Artisan, $19.95), on sale today. Each "wish" is presented within an illustration, almost like poster art.

"Our goal was to give people the feeling that you can do anything," says Jonnie Penn, 25. "We started with that. We scribbled down the ones that moved us … Some are sad, some are hilarious, some are scandalous. We wanted to get that balance."

Included in the book: "I want to put Hogwarts admission letters into as many mailboxes as possible"; "I want to free an innocent man from jail"; "I want to be the first girl to play for the San Francisco Giants."

"We try to help people achieve what they might need," says Lingwood, who earlier this month was lured to Georgia's Kennesaw State to urge students to help a classmate who needs a kidney transplant. The request came through Facebook, where the men have 1.25 million fans, people they call "community."

So far, the quartet has crossed 80 things off their own 100 "wants," first compiled when the Canadians from British Columbia realized they were settling for mediocrity in their young lives.

Hence their name. The four call themselves The Buried Life, after Matthew Arnold's poem that warns against living a life that's "buried," not your own.

They've crashed a wedding, making a toast to a mystified bride and groom, and survived four days on a deserted South Pacific island. "It was pretty intense," says Lingwood.

Perhaps their biggest score? Playing basketball with President Obama on the White House courts in 2010. It took two years to accomplish.

"We added it to the list because we knew it was going to be almost impossible," says Lingwood. But through good old Washington lobbying, they eventually got the ear of the president. "He liked that we helped people."

And how did they do?

"Pretty well," says Penn. "He's a very good basketball player. We did our best."

They were impressed that Obama stayed until he finally hit a three-pointer, remarking that he never walks away from a missed shot.

"It was a big day for us because we want to prove that you can do anything you want to," Lingwood says.

For more information about reprints & permissions, visit our FAQ's. To report corrections and clarifications, contact Standards Editor Brent Jones. For publication consideration in the newspaper, send comments to letters@usatoday.com. Include name, phone number, city and state for verification. To view our corrections, go to corrections.usatoday.com.

Posted | Updated

USA TODAY is now using Facebook Comments on our stories and blog posts to provide an enhanced user experience. To post a comment, log into Facebook and then "Add" your comment. To report spam or abuse, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box. To find out more, read the FAQ and Conversation Guidelines.